Effect of Selenium-based Diets on Zootechnical Performance, Hematological Parameters, and Relative Weight of Internal Organs in Broiler Chickens

Two sources of selenium are commonly used in poultry nutrition, the organic and the inorganic forms. This study was carried out to investigate the comparative effect of Sasso broiler breeder feed supplemented with sodium selenite (SS) and selenomethionine (SM) on the zootechnical performance, hematology, and hatching process of chickens. A total of 120 female broiler breeders and 12 roosters of Sasso strain at 47 weeks were equally assigned to three treatments with four replicates per each, including 10 breeders crossed with 1 rooster. The treatment groups were broiler breeders fed a basal diet without selenium supplementation (control), chickens fed the basal diet supplemented with SS, and breeders fed the basal diet supplemented with SM. The inclusion level of each selenium was 0.2 ppm. The collected data included feed intake and egg weight during 8 weeks. In the end, blood samples were collected for hematological investigations. A total of 150 hatching eggs were collected from each treatment. After recording their weight, the eggs were incubated at adequate temperature and relative humidity. On day 18 of incubation, the eggs were weight again, candled, and transferred into the hatcher. Each egg was individually checked every 3 hours during the last 3 days of incubation for hatching events determination. The results showed that breeders fed SM had the lowest feed conversion ratio. There was an increase in the majority of blood parameters in breeders fed SM, compared to other treatments. The lowest duration of the hatching events was observed with breeders fed SM, and consequently, they had the best hatching rate but without any significant difference in the chicks’ quality and their weight of internal organs at the hatch. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that using selenium is beneficial, especially in the organic form, which appeared to be more efficient, compared to the inorganic form.